Ponyville Outskirts
Cloud Runner

Rolling around in bed half asleep made me realize something.

I’m all alone.

“Sky?” I groaned. “You up?” I sat up in bed and looked around the moonlit room, realizing I was the only one present, accompanied by a note on my bedstand. Swinging over to sit on the edge I grabbed the note and read it over. “Cosmo had an emergency?” I wondered aloud before I put the note back where I found it. How long ago did she-

KNOCK! KNOCK!

And another good question. Who’s trying to bash my door in at this time of night? A quick walk to the front door revealed my annoyance of the evening, as Sombra had broken out his key to let him and my father in. “Do you two know how late it is?” I asked.

“Not the time.” Sombra brushed past me and turned the TV on, flipping through the channels with the remote. “You need to see this.”

Finally the news came on to the video of a burning factory. “-and we still have no word on where the aircraft came from.”The camera panned away from the burning building and to a reporter standing on an abandon rail line. “Whatever the case-” An explosion erupted behind the reporter that threw her and the camerapony to the ground before the feed cut out.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

“Something attacked Manehattan within the last hour, and your sister and brother-in-law are missing.” Dad answered. “I… I don’t know what to do.”

“Just watch Storm.” I said as I pulled out my cell phone and dialed up Sky. “Come on, pick up…” I muttered as the phone buzzed away.

“Hey, this is Sky. Leave a message” BEEP

“Sky it’s me. Call me, alright?” I flipped the phone closed and tossed it down on the coffee table.

“Come on Cloud, you’re retired.” Sombra insisted.

“Semi-retired.” I reminded him as I marched off to my office. I strolled in and slid open the door to the walk-in closet by my desk. As the door hit the end of the track it triggered the lights, and my power armor appeared to glow under the soft white light. The back was open just like I had left it.

“Cloud, come on.” Dad tried to plead as I stepped into the armor, followed by the clinking and hissing as it sealed itself shut. “You haven’t gone out for years. Why now?”

“Sky isn’t answering her phone and someone is bombing Manehattan.” I retorted as the armor powered up and I stepped forward. “What am I supposed to do? Just sit here?”

“You’re supposed to use your head!” Dad groaned. “What about Dust?”

“What about me?” Finally, Dad realized the elephant in the room and whipped around to face my son, Dust Storm. “Grandpa, Dad… Did I miss something?”

“Dust…” Dad muttered as he wrapped his grandson in a hug.

I stood over the two and patted my son’s bedhead down. “Dad’s gotta go save the world kiddo.” My son nodded up at me. Dust never did have a problem with me and Sky running off to do Goddess knows what.

Let’s be honest. It’s damn good bragging rights to say that you’re parents are veritable superheroes.

“So Grandpa’s staying here?” He asked.

“For now.” I said. “I’ll see you later kiddo.”

Right off my office is a sliding glass door. Having done the same motions countless times before it wasn’t long before I was rocketing away from my house and headed skyward. With a flick of my wrist a map appeared on my helmet’s heads up display with a blinking red dot. “Just sit tight Sky… I’m coming.”

***

The Grotto
Dusk

I just shook my head. “Say again Blue Leader?”

“You heard me boss. Looks like a squad snuck out.”

“Just fucking great…” I muttered. “Eagle, do you have eyes on?”

“Negative Commander. Thermals can’t see anything through that smoke.”

“Understood. Eagle, remain on station. Blue Flight return to base.”

“Acknowledged sir.”

Turning my attention to the video feeds of the old wire factory my heart sank. I know that Kovac is a threat… But I’m destroying what was my home. The news feeds didn’t make me feel much better as they showed the burning façade of the old brick building. “What are you up to Kovac?”

“So you don’t know?” I whipped around as a tired-looking Cosmo strolled into the command center.

“Kinda hard to wager a guess. Probably revenge for shooting him in the face?” I suggested, turning back to the displays once more. “Hell, maybe he’s out for resources? If he’s been building synths like he was he was before he might be running the reserves dry. I just don’t know enough right now Cosmo.”

“Then tell me this.” He said. “Back in Carniola, you were calling these guys the Second Division. After that the unit was disbanded and the members when goddess knows where. What happened? And better yet how’s Specter still alive? I was there when he got shot.”

“Well… Have a seat then.” I insisted. “At the very least I owe you some-”

“Red Alert!" Came Dart's voice over the loudspeakers. "All hands to action stations!"

“Answers later?” I asked. Cosmo nodded and swung open the door out in the hall, only to face down to equine-shaped beings armored in cream-colored plating.

“The fuck is this?” He muttered. Immediately the leader whipped around and kicked him in the gut, knocking him back into the room.

I looked from Cosmo to the equines out in the hall before I rolled behind one of the consoles with my pistol ready as one of the attackers ran after me and latched onto the collar of my armor. “Big mistake fucko!” I jumped back to my feet with the attacker still clinging to me and backpedaled him into the wall.

Cosmo had already gotten up and was going blow for blow with the other, ducking wide swings before one slammed into the wall and shattered a section of concrete down to rebar.

I wheeled around just as Cosmo leapt over the computer and slugged the attacker clear of my shoulders. “Well that was something!” I yelled as I caught the next swing from Cosmo's dance partner and slammed him down into one of the consoles.

“You think?!” Cosmo yelled back as he struggled to keep a knife away from his shoulder.

“Exactly!” I said as I drew out my pistol. Dropping into SATS slowed down the world around me and highlighted the attacker in a pale green glow. I cued up three shots and watched as they slammed home and showered Cosmo in sparks.

“Goddess...” Muttered Cosmo as he shoved the dead body off him. “What the hell are these things?”

A quick glance at the exposed circuitry proved my suspicions. “These would be synths.”

“No shit?” He pulled out his revolver and put a round square in the busted android's chest. “That's from me you shithead!”

“Angry much?” I asked.

Cosmo glared at me before pointing at the crater in the wall. “I nearly got pulverized. Fill in the blanks Dusk.”

“Dusk?” I turned to face the synth that I had smashed into the console and saw the android staring at me through it's shattered visor. “My my, you've been busy. You've even figured out how to be in two places at once!”

“Kovac...” I growled. “Where are you?”

“Why visiting with your double of course. But be honest with me, did you get lazy when it came to the colors?”

Wait a minute, colors?

“You leave my daughter out of this you piece of shit!” Cosmo yelled.

“Oh, a new player!” Kovac's voice exclaimed. “So here's the game Dusk. I'll be taking minime back to Manehattan. To get her back you simply need to come there, disarm the havoc beneath the building and escort me to Canterlot with it. Simple enough?”

“I'd say so.” I simply slammed my armored fist against the side of the synth's head, silencing it. “Dart, you read me?”

“Heard everything. Jammer is up and running so Kovac can’t call for backup. Trust me, he's not taking Archer without a fight.”

“Oh I believe it.” I muttered. “What about the fighters?"

“I diverted them to the Griffon airfield just over the border near Vanhoover. Galland will have them rearamed and refueled, then send them back with some of theirs.”

“Good. Keep me in the loop.” I clicked the radio off and looked over at Cosmo. “So are we gonna go save your daughter or what?”

***

Location Unknown
Archer

What’s my name? Something to do with a bow and arrow… Archer, right. Wait, why did I have a problem remembering?

“Because you grabbed a mind-altering magical artifact, you dolt!” It took me a minute to realize that yes, someone had indeed yelled at me and was standing right in front of me. “Now that I have your attention Archer, what about personality changing didn’t you understand?”

I just cocked an eyebrow before finally remembering who was standing in front of me… Assuming you can call this fog cover a floor. “Dusk? Uh, what happened?”

I’m obviously missing something that he’s trying to get across, considering the poor stallion is just giving me a blank stare. “Right… Timestream…”

“What are you blathering about?”

Dusk rolled his eyes before pulling a stool out of… Wait, where’d he get a stool? “Alright Archer, here’s the deal. I’m dead… At least I think I am. Now I don’t want you to end up like Caliper after he used that orb, so I decided to invite myself on in and make a few changes to how the spell works.”

“That’s fine and dandy Dusk, but I got one question.” For some reason I felt compelled to sit down and found that I now had my own stool out of… You know what? That really shouldn’t be the big question. “Who’s Caliper?”

“Caliper was a prisoner.” Dusk said curtly. “He was in jail for pony traficking, most notably my fiance Dart.” He stopped and looked at the ground for a moment before turning his attention back to me. “Or is it ex-fiance? I’m not too sure-”

“Focus!” I yelled. “Who is Caliper?”

“Right…” Dusk muttered. “Now I’m going to gloss over a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo here, but he’s the first pony to use the memory orb after I created it. It’s through his testing that I discovered the mental aftereffects.”

“Alright, how could it be?” I asked.

“He went to Manehattan, stripped naked in the middle of Central Station, cut off one of his ears and stuffed it up his ass before blowing his brains out.” I just nodded while Dusk’s expression seemed to darken. “But that’s not our main issue. Kovac’s Synths are coming for you Archer.”

“How do you know?”

“Just trust me and follow your instincts kiddo. We’ll talk more later, now wake up.”

Immediately everything faded to black and I realized that I was lying in a bed with my eyes shut… And it was quiet. Very quiet. My eyelids slid open and I instinctivly wiped away whatever crust had built during my now-apparent nap. But on the very edge of my vision something stirred, and I recognized the sky-blue figure almost immediately. “Mom!” I tried to swing out of the bed and get to her, but I stumbled against the tangled sheets before smacking into a cold body that took a place between me and her.

“You will come with us.” It said in a gravely voice. I glanced between it’s armored face and my mother before I did the only thing that came to mind.

I lept back against the side of the bed, using it as a lever so I could lift my legs up and plant them against my uninvited guest’s torso and kicked. The force sent ‘him’ tumbling back into the wall with a resounding CRACK. “You want to run that by me again?”

Something about the two friends that ran into the room with some sort of guns leveled at me tells me that, yes, they do in fact want to run that by me again. As the leader of the pair quickly closed the gap between the two of us I waited, watching as he raised his rifle and started swinging the but of the rifle down towards me.

But the rifle wasn’t even halfway through it’s downward arc before I stepped out of the way and wrapped my arm up around the rifle and twisted it out of the pony’s grasp and steaded the butt against my own shoulder and pulled the trigger.

BFZT!

As the first pony fell I swung the sights onto the second and pulled the trigger again.

BFZT!

The second shot did something I didn’t expect; the second pony lit up in a blue glow before… Disolving, falling to the ground in a neat smoldering pile of ash and pieces of body armor.

Rifle still in hand I slid over to my mother’s body and stuck my ear to her chest. “Still breathing…” I muttered. But this just brings up more questions. Was Mom trying to protect me from whoever those ponies were? Better yet why is Kovac interested in me?

...Doesn’t matter, I can’t stay put. What’s to say that there aren’t more of those ponies crawling around down here?

“Well hello. It’s Archer, right?” I wheeled around with the rifle up and found myself face to face with the one-eyed stallion that crashed the party earlier in the evening. “I got to admit, I wasn’t expecting Dusk to have a protoge.”

I shrugged and felt a cocky grin begin to grow across my muzzle. “Sorry to disappoint.”

Kovac simply offered a chuckle. “My dear, I’m not disappointed.” He slowly pulled a nighstick out from the back of his belt and twirled it around a bit. “I’m impressed.”

That look on Kovac’s face made my blood run cold and alarms in the back of my head started screaming at me to do something. So I did the only sensable thing that came to mind; I blasted Kovac square in the face and shoved him away from the door, and with speed I didn’t think I was capable of I swept down, scooped up Mom and ran right out the door.

***

The Grotto, Main Hangar
Cloud Runner

You know it’s really hard to miss giant gaping holes in the side of a mountain, especially when there’s a bunch of smoke pouring from the entrance and wreckage is littering the mountain face. But that’s not even my main question; where the hell did Dusk get the money for a secret underground lair? I know the colt’s rich and all, but a massive hangar with guns and ships and who knows what else is a bit over the top. It was relatively easy to glide in through the open hole and land in the hangar next to two smoldering wrecks, which looked eirily like some sort of plane. My attention was shortly diverted from the wrecks by the echos of gunfire that came from the far side of the hangar.

“Bring it on you wankers!”

Wait a minute, I recognize that accent. I tapped the side of my helmet and a small window popped up. “Call Felix.” I whispered. My suit’s VI did the rest and dialed up the fox from my contacts.

The line didn’t ring long. “Cloud, now ain’t a good time!” Came a distressed voice over helmet speakers.

“Well I was just calling to tell you get you head down.” I said as I clicked the safeties off on my gauntlet’s laser emitters.

“Wait, get our heads down?” Felix was silent for a moment before the reality of what I was saying hit him. “Sky, hit the deck!”

I leapt up over the flaming wreckage and saw Felix and Sky running across the hangar as three ponies, one of which was sparking out of the side of it’s head, chased after them. “Cloud, they’re robots!” Sky yelled as she slid around a crate with Felix.

“So no moral consequences?” I yelled back. “Count me in!” I landed in front of the sparking leader and did the only sensible thing that came to mind; I stuck my gauntlet in his face and flicked my wrist.

BAMF!

The laser went off and blew a hole straight through the thing’s helmet and out the back of it’s head in a shower of red and yellow sparks and melted slag. I ducked under the robot on the left’s attempt at a pistol whip and went for the one on the right. “Too slow!” I wrenched the other’s rifle out of it’s hands and snapped it on my knee. “Now get out of my inlaw’s cave!” I stepped back enough where I had the room to grab the two robots by the sides of their heads and smashed them together in a shower of sparks and more slag. I smirked under my helmet as the two piles of scrap slumped to the ground. “I still got it.”

The release on my helmet clicked before being tugged away. “Damn right you do.” Sky swung around my shoulders and planted a quick kiss on my lips. “Now please tell me you got someone to watch Dust.”

“Dad and Sombra have it covered.” I assured. “Now what the hell is going on here?”

“Honestly? Dusk has some serious trust issues.” Felix snapped. “I mean come on! Who the hell thinks he needs a private army to take on one old stallion with a bunch of robots?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember that party that Dusk invited us to that we decided to skip?” Sky asked.

“Of course I do.”

“And do you remember how he told us about that stallion from the Second Divison who tried to kill him on that Wasteland trip of his?”

Ah, I remember that feeling now. Deja vu. “So one of Dusk’s skeletons came back to try and enact his revenge because… Reasons?”

“That’s about the size of it.” Felix retorted. “And trust me, there’s probably more of those cheeky bastards running around in here.”

“Then what’s our plan?” I looked around the hangar, hoping to get an idea. “Better yet, where is everyone?”

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Yelled a golden and blue blur as she ran past.

I turn my attention to the direction from where the blur came from and sighed. “Hey Felix?” I said as I checked over the emmitters on my gauntlets.

“Ya?” He replied, sliding a fresh magazine into his pistol.

“You’re a fucking jinx.” I said as I pulled my helmet from Sky’s grasp and slid it back on. Once the display kicked on it highlighted the five ponies walking towards us from the opposite side of the room, led by a one-eyed stallion in the front of the small crowd. “I’ll take the leader, you two take his cronies.”

“What makes you think you’ve got him?” Sky asked.

I just shrugged before dashing forward. Almost as if on que, everything around me seemed to slow down. An old teacher told me it was called ‘Spartan Time’, an ability fed by the increased perception my augmentations provided. But this stallion that I was rushing for was moving at what appeared to be normal speeds as he stepped off to the side and slammed his fists down into the back of my armor. “So you’re the famed Tempest?” He wondered aloud. “And here I thought you’d be a bit more challenging.”

“I got my own surprises.” I growled, rolling away from the foot of this stallion and jumping up to my feet. “Anyone tell you that you’re fast?” I asked, tossing and missing a punch as the old warrior stepped back out of my reach.

“So I’ve been told.” He retorted as he cocked the side of my helmet with the butt of a pistol. “Now are you-”

BAMF!

While the older stallion was distracted I managed to catch him in the chest with both of my gauntlets and knocked him backwards. “Told you I had some surprises of my own.” I chided as I charge forward and slammed into Kovac’s torso. I felt his hands bash against my back and armored wings, but I kept charging until the two of us crashed into the concrete wall that lined the back of the hangar.

That impact got me to stop for just enough time for Kovac to push me off and blast me with some sort of kinetic spell, sending me tumbling head over heels across the hangar as the helmet display flashed system failure warning after failure warning. “Call Phalanx.” I managed to grunt as I felt someone grab the collar of my armor and toss me into a pile of crates.

BRRING! BRRING! BRRING!

“Come on, pick up…” I muttered as I managed to get back to my feet.

“Cloud?” Phalanx groaned out over the line. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Time for you to come save my-” I didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence as Kovac whacked the back of my helmet with some large tool that was lying on the ground.

"You came out of retirement, didn’t you?"

“Semi-retirement!” I snapped. “Now can you help or not?”

“Give me two minutes.”

I rolled my eyes as the line clicked dead. “Probably don’t have two minutes…” I muttered as I was hauled back to my feet and planted into a wall.

I ignored Kovac as he kept throwing punches at my helmet and focused on the failure warnings. Booster failure, weapons misfire, navigation error, and other similar messages blinked in and out of the message window on my HUD. But one stood out; structural integrity comprimised. Goddess, what’s this fucker throwing at me? My anwser finally came when the lens of my helmet cracked and finally shattered as Kovac threw two final punches before ripping my helmet off and tossing it away.

“Anything else you have to say?” Kovac asked as he put a knife to my throat.

When I noticed the familiar pony that had snuck up behind him I just smirked. “Well ya, don’t turn around.”

“What?” Kovac staggered before being tossed to the ground a few feet away.

And the reason, that saviour that decided to show up early, was standing over Kovac. “I’ll handle this joker Cloud.” Phalanx called out as his eyes started to glow a faint emerald green.

I’m in no mood to argue with that. I scooped up my helmet off the floor and dashed across the hangar to where Sky and Felix were just finishing up the last of the four robots they were taking on… And by finishing up did I mention that it involved Sky ripping the thing’s head from it’s shoulders?

“We good?” I asked, stepping over the two other sets of dismatled remains.

“We’re-”

“Hit the deck!” Felix yelled, hauling the rest of us to our knees as a body flew overhead and slammed into the concrete.

“Hey Cloud?” Phalanx groaned.

“Yes Phalanx?”

“Is there any specific reason you were able to surive fighting that bastard?” He grunted, clutching the lower part of his chest.

“Just call me lucky.” I retorted as I turned away, staring down the stallion that was stalking his way towards us.

“How long do you think that luck’s gonna last?” Sky asked.

I just shrugged and took up a defensive stance. “We’re about to find out.”

***

Dusk

“I guess we missed most of the party.” I muttered as I hopped over the wreck of what was one of my fighters, nearly tripping over two ponies huddling behind the wrecked fusilage.

“No, not really.” Archer said as she crawled out from behind her cover, as her mother poked her head up over the side.

“Oh thank the Goddess!” Cosmo said with an air of relief as he wrapped his adopted daughter in a tight embrace.

“Yup, don’t need to breathe or anything.” She groaned.

Now this right here doesn’t look right. “How are you even awake?” I asked. “That orb should’ve had you out for at least another day.”

Archer just offered a shrug and picked up her rifle off the ground. “No clue, but I’m not too picky.”

“Where’d you get that?” Cosmo asked.

“Ripped it away from a synth before Kovac came to visit.” Archer snorted. “Now can we please go take this guy down?”

Right, Kovac is still in the building. Might want to-

“Hit the deck!” Cosmo dove to the floor just as a grey stallion sailed over our heads and crashed to the ground behind us with a clatter of loose metal.

“Fuck! He spat out, struggling to get off the ground. I looked over at the beaten form of Phalanx as a slow realization hit me like a sack of bricks. Here is one of the most powerful stallions that I have ever known, and he’s clearly been getting his ass handed to him.

“Dusk, what’s your plan?” Cosmo asked, accompanied by the nearly silent sounds of brass sliding into their places in a stainless revolver cylinder.

I finally turned to face the object of my problems for the evening. Off behind him I saw my future brother-in-law slumped against the wall by the main elevator. “I’ll keep him busy, you just rally the troops.” With a flick of my wrist the shield indicator on my HUD came to life, filling up and flashing a pale blue within seconds. “Here we go…”

Once the dampers in the armor unlocked I charged forward, crossing the empty floor between myself and Kovac in a matter of moments. I swung out my right arm but caught nothing but air as Kovac simply disappeared. As some massive force slammed into my back I managed to wheel around and grind to a halt. Standing across from me was a glowing-eyed Kovac, who I could rightly assume was the reason my shields had simply dropped to zero. “Come on Dusk, do you really think that I wouldn’t see that one coming?”

“Would’ve been nice.” I retorted, opting to rip the pistol from the strip it was sticking to on my thigh.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Kovac ducked around the three bullets I managed to get off before he slammed right into me, sparking fist and all, and knocked me onto my back. “Well I did my job. Goodbye Dusk.”

I managed to get to my knees just in time to watch Kovac and the few Synths left in the hangar teleport away. “Damn it!”

“You alright?” Cosmo asked as he jogged over and tried hauling me to my feet.

“Could be better.” I groaned. “Everyone still in one piece?”

Cosmo nodded as Cloud and Sky joined us while Felix ran past to go check on Phalanx. “For the most part.” He replied.

“Now when was someone going to bring in on this?” Cloud asked as he wiped some dirt off his face.

“Honestly? I was hoping that this little hole in the wall would prove to be a waste.”

“So was really Kovac?” Sky asked.

I nodded and pulled off my helmet. “Certianly was him.”

“Then I don’t think I need to point out that we’re outmatched.” She said.

“You’re preaching to the quior Sky.” I retorted.

“So you have a plan?” Cosmo asked.

“I think I do.” I said. “Cosmo, go call your brain trust.”

***

The Grotto Control Room
Archer

I think I sat in the corner of the control room for the better part of three hours before Dusk finally walked back into the room. He had ditched the armor he was wearing and swapped for a pair of jeans with a black shirt. “Alright, everyone here?” He yelled.

Towards the front of the room Cosmo’s mother Constellation and my ‘Uncle’ Storm Cloud both got up. “Took you long enough.” The older mare chided. “Now how badly did you fuck up where I need to clean up after you?”

“Mom, can you not do that now?” Dad asked as he came in behind Dusk, helping Phalanx hobble along.

“Goddess…” She muttered and ran over to help Phalanx. “What the hell happened?”

“Kovac.” Dad said. “That old ghost came crawling out of the woodwork.”

“Dusk?”

“Yes Consti?”

“I though you said Kovac was dead.”

Dusk just shrugged. “Well I was right to think that he wasn’t.”

“And that’s why he built a secret base and raised a small force of mercenaries.” I added. “Or did I miss something?”

Dusk shook his head and walked towards the holotable at the front of the room, waving for the others to follow. But I didn’t, or maybe I couldn’t. I started feeling a bit weak and slumped back in my chair as everything grew a bit darker and faded out of focus.

“Well, welcome back kiddo.” I shot up in my chair and realized that I was still in the control room… Except it was empty.

“You’re the ghost pony… Thing... Right?”

“Absolutely.” The ghostly version of Dusk said. “We never did really cover the part on how I died, did we?”

“Nope. You said you thought you were dead and told me to wake up.”

“And you finally passed back out after the adrenaline wore off.” He retorted. “At least the synths are gone, so we’ve got time to work with.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?”

Dusk just sighed. “Dart, it’s complicated. Look, I’m going to die. Hell, I’m already dead.”

“But I was just giving you a snarky remark not even a minute ago.” I pointed out.

“Well that’s what happens when you blow yourself up when you’re in between universes.” Dusk spat. “Archer, look… You’re the best pony around to succeed me. I just need to get you ready.”

“Ready for what?” I asked, most certianly with a puzzled look plastered across my face. “Dusk, what are you trying to tell me?”

“I’m trying to tell you anything Archer.” Dusk assured me. “I’m trying to show you how this crapshoot got started.”

“Alright… How are we doing this then?”

“Just relax.” Dusk said as the world around me began to fade to white. “You’ve got a long road ahead of you.”

Author's Note

And there it is. After plenty of time writing, revising, and seeking inspiration (in addition to the regular fuckery), I've finally finished and published the prologue of Broken Mirror Part II. I'd like to extend some thanks to both Pia-Sama and Volrathxp. For now the focus will turn back to finishing The Long Road, which has two or three more chapters left before it's finally tied off.

Anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker